“What I understand is that it’s a little boy’s birthday today, who barely a year ago lost his mother, who’s got to be on his mind, especially today, and that he’s got a stepmother that may not be the perfect fit. And no matter what he did or said, this punishment isn’t going to make him love Sharon. It’s only going to make him miss his own mother even more.”
“Did you ever think about becoming a child psychologist?”
“I’ve toyed with a lot of different ideas about my future. But do you see what I’m talking about?”
“I’ll call Sharon and see if I can get him some time off for good behavior. Maybe even get the whole sentence commuted.”
“There you go! Great! Thanks, Archie.”
“It would be a shame for Tyler to miss his own party.” He looked at me in such a funny way, and then he said something so stupid, I almost fell off the porch. He said, “Why do you care so much?”
I wanted to say, Why don’t you care more?
“Because I really love Hunter and Tyler, that’s why. I have since you and Carin brought them home from the hospital.”
Archie stood there on the porch, reminiscing.
“I miss her, you know?” he said.
“I know. Everyone does, but I think your boys might miss her the most.”
Archie nodded his head.
“Thanks, Holly. Somehow I always find myself thanking you for something. What can I do to make up for all you do for us?”
Well, I thought, you could toss Sharon off the top of the Ravenel Bridge into the Cooper River and let the sharks eat her. That would take care of it.
“You know, before you got married, I had a conversation with the boys. They both said they didn’t want another mother, that they liked things just as they were. Y’all had a boys’ club, in their mind anyway. Just you and them against the world, and together, nothing would ever hurt them again. With Sharon on the scene, they lost that, too. Do you see what I mean?”
“Do you think I made a mistake marrying Sharon?”
“Do you?”
“No.”
“Well, then . . . good.” I looked at the ground as my face got red and hot. “Maybe, if you wanted to do something, just try to temper Sharon’s rules and regulations. There might be a few that could be loosened up a bit.”
The look on his face said that I might have won Tyler a reprieve, but I had inadvertently embarrassed Archie by implying he wasn’t giving enough vigilance to what was going on. He knew that I knew he had simply turned the boys over to Sharon to raise like house plants. He also knew I knew she was doing a terrible disservice to two little boys who deserved one helluva lot more than they were getting.
“I can take them over to Maureen’s if you’d like,” I said.
“Let me talk to Sharon first,” he said. “I’ll call you, okay?”
“Sure,” I said. I went down the stairs into the yard and turned back. “Archie?”
He just stood there looking at me.
“It’s his birthday. Come on. He’s just a little boy.”
“I’ll call you,” he said.
What else could he say?
I went home and called Maureen, telling her every detail.
“So that’s the latest,” I said.
“What do you think?”
“I think that if she doesn’t let this child come to his own birthday party, I’ll be so furious with Sharon, I’ll rip her head off. How’s that?”
“I’ll help you.”
And so, I waited and waited and waited.
I went out to my apiary to check on the girls. Naturally, I told them everything. My cell phone rang in my back pocket. It was Archie. I took off my gloves and answered it.
“Sharon said no,” he said.
“Are you serious? You can’t be serious!”
“She really feels very strongly that Tyler needs to learn a lesson. Holly, he called her a terrible name. He can’t do that.”
“So let me get this straight. Hunter is going to Tyler’s birthday party without him?”
“When she found out there was a party for Tyler and that she had not been told the truth, she was furious. Hunter isn’t going, either.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Because she thinks they both knew and didn’t tell her.”
“It’s a surprise party, Archie.”
“She’s got the final word, Holly. She’s coming home at two thirty to talk to him.”
“Y’all are unbelievable.” I hit the end button. I turned back to my hives, told them the story, and said, “What now?”